The training of students, research fellows, and clinicians, organized by the Education and Training Core, will form an integral part of this Wellstone Center proposal on Biomarkers for Therapy of FSHD. The core's goal is to prepare young scientists for independent careers studying skeletal muscle biology and muscular dystrophy, with a strong focus on FSHD, and to provide them with research skills, through mentoring and assistance, to facilitate their transition to productive careers in muscular dystrophy research. The Core will provide trainees for all the projects involved in this proposal. It will be directed by Drs. Bloch (Core Director), Emerson (P.I., and Core Co-Director) and Kunkel (co-P.I.), who, with oversight by the Center Advisory Committee and NIH staff, will work with Center investigators to recruit, appoint, fund and mentor trainees. All fellows will participate in collaborative research projects with Center investigators, to implement the goals of the Center and to acquire multidisciplinary expertise and training in muscle and muscular dystrophy research. The Core's activities, designed to enhance training, will include a biennial meeting with a FSHD patient group, and a research conference on FSHD organized as a satellite to the annual meeting of the American Society for Human Genetics, and an annual research retreat. The retreat will focus on education and mentoring, through afternoon mini-courses on skeletal muscle biology and muscular dystrophy, a brown bag lunch session on the Responsible Conduct of Scientific Research, formal presentations, informal discussions, and one-on-one mentoring sessions. The Center will recruit and appoint one predoctoral and one postdoctoral trainee and support them for up to 2 years, with additional funding to be made available thereafter through their mentors' laboratories or other sources. Supplementary funding for additional fellows will be provided by faculty research grants, and funds from the Boston Biomedical Research Institute and other participating institutions, with the expectation that there will be12 fellows participating in our Education and Training Core at any given time.